23 Sep 2026
Six areas across England will test new approaches to delivering more joined-up health and care within local communities, including a programme with an explicit focus on rural and coastal areas.
Backed by £1.5 million from the Office for the Impact Economy, the Neighbourhood Health Investment Partnership will bring together NHS services, councils and community organisations. The projects aim to provide earlier support, reduce avoidable hospital admissions and help people remain independent for longer.
The six trailblazer sites are:
- Bristol NHS Foundation Trust
- Lewisham Health and Care Partnership and Healthier Greenwich Partnership
- North East Lincolnshire Health and Care Partnership
- RM Partners and North Central London NHS Cancer Alliance
- North Nottinghamshire Partnership
- York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The York and Scarborough programme will expand an existing neighbourhood-based frailty model, using proactive identification, geriatric assessment and multidisciplinary teams to help older people remain at home. Importantly for rural communities, the project will focus on extending successful approaches from York into rural and coastal areas around Scarborough and Bridlington.
The North Nottinghamshire site also covers a mixed geography that includes rural communities, although the Government announcement does not identify the specific neighbourhoods in which the model will operate.
The programme is being delivered in partnership with Social Finance, Macmillan Cancer Support and West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The approaches developed through the six projects could inform wider adoption of neighbourhood health models across the NHS.
For rural areas, the work will be particularly relevant in demonstrating whether neighbourhood-based care can be adapted to communities where distance, transport and workforce pressures can make delivering care closer to home more challenging.
